Mom and Pastor on Edge

19th Amendment, Still Amending

Today commemorates the 1920 19th Amendment of the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. It is Women's Equality Day, and for that, I am grateful.

Throughout the past year, I have considered more than I ever had before the significance of my gender, not only in my life as a pastor, but in my life as a person, a mom, and a spouse. Why now? I suppose as life moves quickly from one thing to another, it takes some awareness to actually stop and think about it. 

And when St. John called me to serve as senior pastor a year and a half ago, some people remarked the uniqueness of a senior pastor who is female. It is new in the life of St. John, and frankly quite rare in the life of even our own denomination, the ELCA. In the larger scope, it is almost unheard of in the Christian Church across the world.

When the ELCA elected its most recent Presiding Bishop, Elizabeth Eaton, she was asked many times what it was like to serve as the first female bishop of our denomination. Her response was both epic and prophetic. She stated, I am a bishop, and I long for the day I will no longer be called a female bishop, but simply a bishop.

I pray her leadership and words like those would continue to move the ministry of the Christian Church forward, setting our eyes on God's work without getting stuck on the worker. 

There are other words that have profoundly shaped my thoughts about my gender, and how being female shapes my life as pastor, person, woman, and parent. (If you think all of those identities simply meld together and need not be separated, we should have coffee and chat.)

Karoline Lewis, preaching professor at Luther Seminary, wrote what I feel is a foundational book in this conversation about pastors who are women. She: 5 Keys to Unlock the Power of Women in Ministry is a book helpful both for women and for people who know women. =)  

She covers ground that had been previously uncovered, naming sexism that pastors who are female face quite regularly, as we negotiate our call to care for all people, while maintaining our own integrity and personal boundaries. These waters can be treacherous, and I am thankful Lewis brought out into the open much of what pastors (not only female, but all genders) have sometimes been expected to live with complacently. 

The 19th Amendment created new opportunities for women. It would take more than 30 years after the 19th Amendment passed for women to vote in my own congregation. Only another decade or so would go by before women would preach from the pulpit. 

Much has changed in the past century, yet much has not. 

I grow weary at every premarital counseling session in which the couple has discussed dividing responsibilities in their homes, and made a plan to work together 50/50. They are excited to work together and call themselves egalitarian. It seems such a logical plan, but I know very, very few couples who pull this off. And I admire them fiercely.

Why should it be acceptable for a woman to work all day only to come home and work all evening, preparing and cleaning up supper, doing load after load of laundry, and putting kids to bed without equal support from a spouse? 

Perhaps the 19th Amendment still has some amending to do in our daily lives, as we celebrate the freedom we are given in Christ to be beloved child of God. May the watery baptismal mark on our foreheads assure us we belong to God, not to a system, not to a tradition that takes from our whole self, not to any words that encourage us to believe we (any one of us) is less.

It is Women's Equality Day. Someday, maybe it will simply be "equality day", and we will wonder why in the world it was ever anything different.

 

 

Last Stop on Highway 101: Seaside, Oregon and Finally Seattle

And there it was ahead of us, the end of our drive on Highway 101. Before we exited off the coastal highway, we stayed in Seaside, Oregon, just north of (and much cheaper than) the quaint city of Cannon Beach. 

At Cannon Beach, we did what a person simply must do and walked along the shore to Haystack Rock.

Now, this is embarrassing to admit, but assuming all things Goonies (historic movie) happened in Astoria, Oregon, I did not realize this was the rock from the final scene of the movie until later! A total “well, duh”; moment for me. So we did not fully absorb the awesomeness of being at the site of a historic movie scene. But it was still spectacular! 

We spent the night in Seaside at a motel that we drove up to with our fingers crossed, hoping for better luck than we had in Crescent City. 

Whew! We were in luck! The motel was nothing fancy, but there was a clear effort on the part of the owners to make this a hip place, splashing color in ordinary places and uniqueness in ordinary corners. I would definitely recommend the Coastal Motel in Seaside. 

At this point in the vacation, Marcus and I had spent more consecutive time together than we probably ever had in our life together! At dinner, we chatted over a few questions that popped out at me one day on Pinterest. These are the ones that were the most interesting to ask each other: 

“What is the first thing you would do if you woke up tomorrow as the opposite sex?” 

“What would you say is your greatest success?” 

“What is your biggest regret?” 

“What would be your ideal job if resources were not an issue?” 

As we celebrated the past 15 adventurous years of marriage, we had time to do things together like laundry and grocery shopping, things we do separately and hurriedly in real life, as opposed to vacation life.  

After staying in Seaside, we drove about 15 minutes north to Fort Claptson, where Lewis, Clark, Sacacagawea, and all of the Corps. of Discovery wintered.

It is a historical site that is simple and to the point. There is a replica of the fort where the 33 people stayed from November to March, waiting for the winter to be mild enough to travel back east and report their discoveries. 

From there, we were ready to hit the interstate, going from Astoria, Oregon to Longview, Washington. 

In Longview, we would eat one of our favorite food discoveries: the prime rib grilled cheese. (Insert, Homer Simpson drool and drooling noises.)  

And then onto Seattle, the last stop of our adventure, where we would spend two days.

                                            Seattle Mariners versus the St. Louis Cardinals. 

                        View from our hotel room, with the Space Needle off in the distance.

And by the end of those two days in Seattle, we would be very, very ready to go home, but perhaps not as ready as the grandparents watching our kiddos! 

                                                                                            

                                                                                                                   THE END

My Favorite Stop on the Pacific Coastal Highway

Shortly after leaving the Redwood Forest, we also left Highway 1 to embark on Highway 101 for Oregon. 

Before leaving California, we stopped at the very touristy drive-through tree near Leggett. We drove through the tree. It cost us $5 and almost as much in gas as we waited in line. 

But hey, we drove through a tree! 

Next, we made it to Newport, Oregon, my favorite stop on the Pacific Coastal Highway. Earlier this year, I discovered my very favorite beer of all is a hazelnut ale made by Rogue Brewery. This is a brown ale that could be confused for a not-too-sweet dessert. Newport is where it all began. I was very excited to go to the source of my favorite beer. 

We did not tour the brewery because, just as I am glad my computer works and I do not need to understand every details about how that happens, it is not necessary for me to see how my favorite beer comes together in a bottle. I am just glad it does. 

What I did discover at Rogue Brewery was a splash of chocolate stout added to my hazelnut ale does the unthinkable: it makes it even yummier! 

We also ate at a fantastic restaurant called Georgio’s, as well as enjoyed a spectacular view of the ocean from our room at the Shilo Inn. In Newport we did everything we wanted to do on this vacation: enjoyed the coast, enjoyed great food and beer, and slept in. The perfect trinity.